Telephone or live audiovisual proceedings
Wis. Stat. § 967.08
in effect(1) The court may, upon the motion of any party or upon its own motion, conduct proceedings referred to in this section by telephone or live audiovisual means, if available. A party may petition the court to conduct a proceeding by telephone or live audiovisual means. If the proceeding is required to be reported under SCR 71.01 (2), the proceeding shall be reported by a court reporter who is in simultaneous voice communication with all parties to the proceeding. Regardless of the physical location of any party to a proceeding conducted by telephone or live audiovisual means, any plea, waiver, stipulation, motion, objection, decision, order or other action taken by the court or any party shall have the same effect as if made in open court. With the exceptions of scheduling conferences, pretrial conferences, and, during hours the court is not in session, setting, review, modification of bail and other conditions of release under ch. 969, the proceeding shall be conducted in a courtroom or other place reasonably accessible to the public. Simultaneous access to the proceeding shall be provided to persons entitled to attend by means of a loudspeaker, live audiovisual means, or, upon request to the court, by allowing a person entitled to attend to listen to or view the proceedings without charge.
(2) The court may permit any criminal proceeding under chs. 968 to 973 to be conducted by telephone or live audiovisual means if both parties consent to do so.
(4) If any party objects to the use of telephone or live audiovisual means for a critical stage of the proceedings, the court shall sustain the objection.
(5) For any other objections to the use of telephone or live audiovisual means, the court shall consider the factors outlined in s. 885.56 in determining whether to sustain or overrule the objection.
Source: WI Statutes (Official Site)URL: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/967.08Fetched: 10/7/2026